Any problem with putting sea shells in my tank ?

Happy'Cam'per wrote:
"Alan Silver" wrote in message

Did boiling them spoil them at all ?

Hi Alan

Don't bother boiling them, thats just overkill. However, there might be some
remains left in the shells of whatever was inhabiting them at some stage.
Fill a small bucket up halfway, add some salt (alot) and let them sit for a
week, replacing new water every 2 days or so. The shells will be fine in the
tank after this.
If you have enough shells you can crush a few them, put them into an old
nylon stocking and add that to your filter aswell. The more the merrier Imo.

If you ever come across crushed coral at the LFS this can be added too in
liberal ammounts.

I personally would at the very least let them soak in for a long while
then boil or bake for a short period (an hour seems a bit overkill, 20
mins should be sufficient). Since these are sea shells, saline conditions
may not be effective at killing pathogens. Heat denatures proteins
however, so this would work on any sort of critter present, regardless of
its saline tolerance. At the very least, rinse in totally hot tap water by
putting the bucket under the hot tap and letting it run for 5 mins or so
to completely replace the cold water, then let it set until it's cool
enough to handle. This is assuming your hot tap comes out at 120F or
higher.

snip
Don't bother boiling them, thats just overkill. However, there might be some
remains left in the shells of whatever was inhabiting them at some stage.
Fill a small bucket up halfway, add some salt (alot) and let them sit for a
week, replacing new water every 2 days or so. The shells will be fine in the
tank after this.
snip
I personally would at the very least let them soak in for a long while
then boil or bake for a short period (an hour seems a bit overkill, 20
mins should be sufficient). Since these are sea shells, saline conditions
may not be effective at killing pathogens. Heat denatures proteins
however, so this would work on any sort of critter present, regardless of
its saline tolerance. At the very least, rinse in totally hot tap water by
putting the bucket under the hot tap and letting it run for 5 mins or so
to completely replace the cold water, then let it set until it's cool
enough to handle. This is assuming your hot tap comes out at 120F or
higher.

Thanx for the reply. I hadn't thought about the saline tolerance, makes
a lot of sense. Maybe I'll try the very hot water idea and see what
happens.

At the end of the day, if they get spoiled it's not terrible. They're
just some nice shells we picked up on the beach, it's not like I flew to
Indonesia specially to get them !!

Ta ra

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/
(anything added below this line is nothing to do with me)


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As long as the shells are not contaminated with something, you will be fine.
The will in fact help to keep your water buffered. If they were South
American cichlids and you were trying to keep your water at neutral or
slightly acidic, I would say not to add them. The truth of the matter is,
that pH does not matter a whole lot. You do not want it to be fluctuating
all of the time but as long as it is between 6 and 8.5 or so, cichlids will
be fine (with the acception of Discus and Angel Fish). The fish have been
breed in a hatchery most likely; and they probably did not take any special
measures to mimic rift lake conditions. They will be more colorful if your
tank water resembles that of the rift lake from which they came.

"Alan Silver" wrote in message
...
Hello,

We have just come back from holiday and, having done the obligatory days
on the beach, have returned with a small collection of pleasant shells.
These came from the North-East coast of England if it makes any
difference.

Is there any problem with putting these in my cichlid tank ? Obviously I
would wash them first, but do I need to do anything else ?

TIA

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/


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